The Tamil Nadu state government has, on Saturday, announced the fixed price cap for the private hospitals in the state to charge from the patients who are getting treated for the COVID-19 pandemic with the view of curbing the private hospitals from charging exorbitantly from the virus-hit patients.

According to the press release issued by the government, the private hospitals have been directed to charge the fee based on the government's cap and the state government has categorized the private hospitals under four groups based on the facilities, the numbers of doctors, and beds. The hospitals would be roofed under A1, A2, A3, and A4 categories.

The private hospitals that fall under A1 and A2 categories must charge a maximum of Rs 7,500 per day from the asymptomatic patients and the patients who carry mild/ moderate symptoms and for the hospitals under the categories of A3 and A4, they should charge maximum of Rs 5,000 per day for the treatment. If the patients have been admitted at the Intensive Care Units (ICU) for COVID-19 treatment, these hospitals under four categories should charge a maximum of Rs 15,000 per day.

The state government said that the price caps are fixed and are maximum and stated that the private hospitals shouldn't levy more charges on the patients than the fixed price cap and called the private hospitals to work together with the government to curb the spread of the pandemic. The ceiling of rates has come following the complaints raised by the patients on the private hospitals for charging excessively.

To fix the price, the government had installed the panel chaired by Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Beela Rajesh and the panel has disclosed its report on capping the prices at the private hospitals with the permissible charges following which the government has released the fixed charges for the hospitals. 

The fixation of prices has come days after Tamil Nadu's branch of Indian Medical Association has moved its estimate on the fee structure to the private hospitals which had become controversial figures. The IMA has said that the private hospitals can charge Rs 23,000 per day as hospitalization charges apart from the doctor fees from the asymptomatic patients and patients with mild symptoms and the estimate has allowed the private hospitals to charge Rs 25,353 per day from the patients who are admitted at the ICU. 

Hours after the estimation was disclosed, the Tamil Nadu government has announced that the beneficiaries of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme can get admitted and treated for the pandemic at the private hospitals using the scheme at the package cost and now the government has announced the fixed price cap for the private hospitals, barring them to levy exorbitant fees on the vulnerable patients.

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